I am really loving our book, A More Beautiful Way to Live. If you haven’t purchased it, I highly suggest that you do. The book is just so beautifully written and feels so supportive and nurturing. This feels like a book I will keep on my shelf and go back to again and again. The author, Bethaney B. Wilkinson, leads us gently and skillfully through the process of getting more comfortable in our own bodies and in our own presence, slowly becoming more acquainted with our own

What beautiful spring weather we are having this week! Alexander and I played hooky on Tuesday and went up to Corralitos to hike at the Byrne-Milliron Forest Preserve, one of our favorite places. We did a pretty challenging hike that goes up to the top of a ridge where you can see all across the Monterey Bay. It was just lovely. So beautiful and quiet up there that I didn’t want to come down. I hope you all finding opportunities to stop and take time to notice and cherish t

As I shared in last week’s message, I got to spend a few days in Felton on a personal retreat that was so restorative and nurturing for me. It was wonderful to just get away from everything, be immersed in nature, and focus on spending quiet time, reading, using my Airbnb’s sauna and jacuzzi, and hiking and exploring some of the beautiful trails in the Santa Cruz mountains. I even made some personal progress with my severe arachnophobia, as I found two sizable spiders in my

This 56th Anniversary of Earth Day is a sacred reminder of our covenant with creation, calling us back to an ancient wisdom: that we belong to the Earth, not the other way around. It is NOT our dominion, but our shared dwelling place, our sacred home. In keeping with this reminder, Denise shared the following Credo for the Earth with me yesterday morning: There is but one ocean though its coves have many names; a single sea of atmosphere, with no coves at all; the miracle

I don't know about all of you - but I'm guessing that, like me, you could use something light-hearted right about now. So I thought I would share this column* about our beloved four-legged companions. ( * NYT The Morning by Sam Sifton, 4-16-26) Here’s to dense dogs Is your dog smart? One of mine is as dumb as a box of rocks. The other’s about 7 cents short of a dollar. (I love them both.) Yet many people, my colleague Emily Anthes reports, have dogs of exceptional intellect

This Easter, more than any other in my lifetime, has fallen in the midst of great earthly turmoil that potentially could change our lives and the world in profound and irreversible ways. The call to spiritual contemplation and action (in the words of Ft Richard Rohr) “ is not a luxury for a few, but surely a cultural necessity" for us all. As I continued to reflect on the state of our world (and my own life) in light of the promise of Easter this year, I came across a cou

This week, as I have been going back and reading the resurrection stories from each of the gospel accounts in preparation for my Sunday lesson, I have been struck by something that is not always noticed and that often gets downplayed in the church. It is a plain and simple fact: there would likely be no Easter without the women. That’s right. You might recall from last week that it was the women who were present at the cross while all the male disciples had scattered. So, t

Wow, this Sunday is Palm Sunday! How fast the Lenten season has flown by. I hope you have been enjoying our series, Meeting Jesus on the Road, as we travel along with Jesus and disciples and witness the many signs and wonders that happen along the way. Our after-service class has been filled with rich discussion, not to mention yummy food! It has been so much fun to share a single pot of soup or chili or lentils. It has reminded me a lot of last year’s Lenten series, Meetin

Yesterday I opened up my Facebook to find my feed full of articles about the allegations of sexual violence and misconduct against the late United Farm Workers’ Union co-founder, Cesar Chavez. I would like to say I was shocked, but I fear I am becoming accustomed to these disheartening revelations about men I once considered great. In case you missed it, the newest allegations come from Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s co-founder of the UFW, who worked very closely with him through

2026 has already seen a rash of anti-trans legislation all over the country. States like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and most recently Kansas have passed laws that prohibit trans people from having gender designations on their driver’s licenses that match their actual gender identity and expression. In Kansas, this new law retroactively invalidated 1000s of trans people’s driver’s licenses which had been legally obtained previously. New legislation also seeks to ban transgen